PHILOSOPHY AND LITERATURE PHIL U138 (COMMON CURRICULUM) DR EDWARD EUGENE KLEIST
The purpose of this course is to appreciate the intermingling of literature and philosophy. We will examine philosophical questions concerning literature, but we will also treat these philosophical questions insofar as they form the theme of literary works themselves. Topics will include the nature of literary and philosophical language, fiction and truth, narrative, metaphor and emotional response.
REQUIRED WORK At least six quizzes = 30%; Midterm In-class Essay = 20%; Final Exam = 30% Participation and Attendance (20%)
Note: Students with disabilities, please contact Disability Services at 865-2990 as soon as possible, so proper accommodations can be made. Students with other special needs, please let me know.
GRADING POLICY Grading policy: A=92-100; B+=86-91; B=80-85; C+=74-79; C=70-73; D+=64-69; D=60-63; F=<60 or special circumstances Each absence beyond four will lower your final grade by four points. If you have a legitimate excuse for excessive absences, please notify Dean Smith so he can send me a note excusing you from class. * Participation includes contributing to an environment in which all students can learn. Insofar as it detracts from the learning environment of the classroom, distracting comments or behavior, chronic tardiness and chronic leaving of class in session will adversely effect your participation grade. If you must be chronically tardy or leave class, please let me know in advance (and sit next to the door if possible). “Plagiarism may take the form of repeating another’s sentences as your own, adopting a particularly apt phrase as your own, paraphrasing someone else’s argument as your own, or even presenting someone else’s line of thinking in the development of a thesis as though it were your own.” (1985 MLA Handbook as quoted in Loyola University New Orleans Undergraduate Bulletin, 1999-2001, p. 45). The minimum penalty for plagiarism or cheating is an "F" in the course. The professor is required to notify the Dean of Students in all such cases. Office hours: T/Th 12:30-1:45; W 2:00-3:00; 865.2790; [email protected]
REQUIRED TEXTS Please purchase: Barthes, Image-Music-Text (New York: Hill & Wang) Jorge Luis Borges, Ficciones (New York: Grove Weidenfeld) Italo Calvino, If on a winter's night, a traveler (San Diego: Harcourt, Brace & World)
Online or on reserve: Aristotle, Poetics Hume, "Of the Standard of Taste" Lewis, "Truth in Fiction" Szabo, "The Puzzle of Imaginative Resistance"
Tentative Schedule of Readings
11-13 Jan: Borges, "The Library of Babel"; Borges, "The Circular Ruins"; Aristotle, Poetics [http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/poetics.html]
18-20 Jan: Hume, "Of the Standard of Taste" [http://www.csulb.edu/~jvancamp/361r15.html]
25-27 Jan: Borges, "Funes the Memorious,” "The Secret Miracle," “The Babylon Lottery”
1-3 Feb: Szabo, "The Puzzle of Imaginative Resistance" [p://people.cornell.edu/pages/tsg3/imagresist.pdf] Kipling, "White Man's Burden" (e.g. of morally repulsive perspective) [http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5478/]
15-17 Feb: Borges, "Tlön Uqbar Orbis Tertius,” “The Secret Miracle,” “Three Versions of Judas”
22-24 Feb: Lewis, "Truth in Fiction" [reserve]
1-3 Mar Borges, "An Examination of the Work of J. Herbert Quain"; Borges, "Pierre Menard, Author of Don Quixote" Borges, "the Library of Babel" (again) Borges, "The Circular Ruins" (again)
8-10 Mar: Barthes, "Death of the Author"
15-17 Mar: To be announced
29-31 Mar: Barthes, "Introduction to the Structural Analysis of Narratives"
5-7 Apr: Barthes, "Introduction to the Structural Analysis of Narratives"
12-14 Apr: Calvino, If on a Winter's Night, A Traveler
19-21 Apr: Calvino, If on a Winter's Night, A Traveler
26-28 Apr: Calvino, If on a Winter's Night, a Traveler
3 May: REVIEW